Full of meticulous period details, with dark rain-slicked streets, reliably beautiful in the silver, blue-gray tones of Janusz Kaminski’s cinematography, the movie, like so many Spielberg period films, reverberates with a sense of present-day anxieties.

Molly Haskell

January 03, 2017

Retrofitting the cold war for the end of the Obama era, Bridge of Spies combines the negotiation of international agreements with a Trumpist approach: deals are best handled by private citizens who know better than government officials how to get what’s best for the country. Today, of course, it is this businessman figure who wants to build a border wall, a bellicose reversal of this film’s message.

Spielberg’s filmmaking doesn’t release tension via traditionally modern, inexpressively frenetic cutting. Every detail in every frame is hyper-tactile, exhilaratingly inescapable. Spielberg fetishizes 1950s-era America, particularly his beloved idea of the nuclear domestic unit, while understanding it to be a precious mirage that could be blinked away at any moment.

High time I stopped hating the man. Got a lot to learn from him.Be humble>he's been directing films for 50 Y e a r s. Sure, he's over-hyped, over-appreciated, over-sentimental, sometimes bit tacky & corny, but he's still hugely skilled and talented.Intro set-piece: one for the annals of film history, for the books. Print was pristine&colours were vivid.Hanks at the top of his game (even his wrinkles Act)> Oscar him!

135 minutes that pass very quickly thanks to Steven Spielberg's know-how. About more or less the same subject and the same locations, I prefer Martin Ritt's 'The Spy Who Came In From the Cold' (1965). Recommended.

After "Munich" and "Lincoln," I was hoping for more groundbreaking, late-game Spielberg -- what we have instead is a Hollywoodesque, traditional spy film played straight, across the board. Entertaining while not exemplary, intelligent while not terribly thought-provoking. Well-shot, of course, with solid work from Rylance.

If it was only for the choice and brilliant performance of Mark Rylance alone, I could have rated the film 5 stars...but then there's all the rest. The factual veracity of the story (if that's ever possible to achieve) is far from enough to make it the great film that it wants to be. Spielberg should try one or two new tricks and drop the persistent patriotic subjects to seriously boost his films up. Mild 3 stars.

Classical Hollywood craftsmanship finds resurgence in the formally elegant "Bridge of Spies." While it may in some ways feel more stately, less alive than Steven Spielberg's other recent historical films such as "Munich," this "Bridge" still deserves to be treasured for the simple fact that films like this - with its lineage in film noir and the work of Frank Capra - may not see production in another decade.

The two train traveling shots in which they show youngsters jumping fences, lead to a correspondence of concomitant mental times expressing the latency of fascism in ordinary life. And this connotative value injects some life into a system formatted at all, that the usual incessant camera movements and the reverberated light are its customary expression. And this has nothing to do with John Ford.

Though it might seem like a minor work in Spielberg's oeuvre, Spies is a quiet masterpiece; very classic but touched by his magic. He uses clever compositions, his unique handling of sentimentality, the engaging performances he gets out of his cast, and expertly crafted visual setpieces to enhance an otherwise simple b&w narrative, creating a surprisingly heartfelt film where the human triumphs over the political.

Mr. Spielberg aren't you worried that this old fashioned bland exercise will tarnish your legacy? "Would it help?" Other than a brilliant Mark Rylance who often utters that line Spielberg's cold war film fails to provide much interest. Everything feels old hat and even the visuals lack the expected expertise. Only the final Americana moments feel very 'Spielbergian'. A disappointment after the reviews.